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Tropical Storm Lee 2011 Drenches the Northern Gulf Coast

Introduction

Lee would give a final blow to our region, literally. While Lee was in the process of being picked up by a fast moving upper air trough, a series of squall lines that produced moderately widespread thunderstorm wind damage along and ahead of the surface cold front, as well as more isolated tornadoes, besieged the area through late Monday afternoon (see the NWS’s Storm Prediction Center’s Daily Storm Reports in Table 3 below). In all, some 10-15 inches of rain fell along coastal sections of Alabama and northwest Florida. Additionally, several weak tornadoes occurred producing modest structural and tree damage. There was also moderate beach erosion and the rip currents endured over a multi-day period. Inland flooding was exacerbated along the immediate coastal zone by higher tide levels due to Lee’s surge effects which created poor to no drainage of area coastal rivers, bays and sounds on during astronomical high tide cycles from 3-5 September (late night hours each day). More specific details, including meteorological and tide gage observations are given in the sections below.

 

Table 1 – Six hour analyses of the evolution of Tropical Storm Lee from 7 PM 1 Sep through 1 AM 6 Sep 2011 (courtesy NWS Hydrometeorological Prediction Center).

Figure 1a	Figure 1b	Figure 1c	Figure 1d
Figure 1e	Figure 1f	Figure 1g	Figure 1h
Figure 1i	Figure 1j	Figure 1k	Figure 1l
Figure 1m	Figure 1n	Figure 1o

 

IMPACTS – Flooding Rainfall

IMPACTS- Tornadoes

Table 3 – 24 h Preliminary Storm Reports from 2-5 Sep 2011 (courtesy NWS Storm Prediction Center). Tornado reports are in red in each of the figures below. Damaging severe thunderstorm wind reports are in blue.

 
Figure 3e - Composite of known tornadoes associated with Tropical Storm Lee
Click to Enlarge

Table 4 – Event area tide gage observations versus astronomical tidal predictions (referenced to MLLW, mean lower low water). The images progress from west (Fig. 4a) to east (Fig. 4i) geographically.

Table 5 – Peak 10 m sustained 2 min wind and gust data. Sustained wind speeds are assumed to be 2 min unless otherwise specified. Directions are given in whole degrees. The data are presented in descending order according to the peak wind gust. If data are missing, they are not currently available.

Disclaimer: These data are being updated as newer information becomes available. The NWS in Mobile, AL reserves the right to modify these data anytime based on the latest available and highest quality data.

Acknowledgements – This was page was authored by Jeffrey Medlin (Science and Operations Officer) and Ray Ball (Information Technology Officer) with contributions from Kirk Caceres (Forecaster), Jason Beaman (Lead Forecaster), Jeff Garmon (Warning Coordination Meteorologist), Gene Jacobi (Observing Program Leader), Joe Maniscalco (Forecaster), and John Werner (Meteorological Intern).